Having policies, procedures and the necessary documentation in place is the first step in ensuring that your business is compliant with HR legislation. Thereafter, maintenance thereof becomes extremely vital. How do you know that your HR policies, practices, procedures and other HR-related documentation are still valid, up-to-date and applicable if you don’t audit and evaluate them timeously and periodically?

Have you conducted an HR Audit within the last two years? If not, are you aware that it is best practice to do so every two years? Here is why conducting an internal HR Audit every two years, or even better, annually, is beneficial for your organisation.

Maintaining compliance:

With the ever-changing nature of South African labour legislation, it can be quite challenging to keep up with all of the amendments, especially if you and your organisation do not work with this kind of information regularly. Not only are you required to keep abreast of these changes, but you are also responsible for ensuring that your organisational policies and practices are updated to align with these changes.

Developing, implementation and maintaining strategy:

We all know the importance of having a sound and effective business strategy, but did you know that the same is expected of your HR strategy? Your HR strategy should ideally be derived from and aligned with your business strategy to ensure that there is consistency and that all departments are working towards achieving the same goals in the same and most appropriate manner. HR in its entirety, including the documentation, procedures and staff, need to be in a position to support management in actively working towards and achieving objectives to meet the business strategy. This could be through something as simple as ensuring that the organisational structure is ideal, the key positions and job descriptions are in place, and reporting lines and scope of authority are clear and understood by all.

Addressing gaps in HR:

Where exactly does the scope of practice of HR end? Oftentimes, HR is neglected in organisations as it is not viewed as a priority, but rather a “nice-to-have” or an administrative burden. However, do you truly know and understand how extensive the field of HR is and how it impacts almost every aspect of an organisation? Think about the following:

• Do you need to hire new employees because you are expanding your organisation or because you are replacing staff who may have left the organisation?
• Do you need help selecting between candidates? What kind of background checks and psychometric testing do you conduct?
• Are you lost and don’t know where to start onboarding and inducting new staff?
• How do you know what needs to go into the contract? How do you decide on their salary?
• What will their job description entail? Who does the person report to?
• What are your expectations of them? What rules do they have to comply with and what standards do they have to meet?
• Have you completed you mandatory statutory reporting and met those requirements in terms of Employment Equity, Skills Development, BBBEE etc.?
• How do you know what kind of training and development is necessary?
• Staff want increases and bonuses – How do you decide on who receives what increase and bonus to ensure that it’s fair?
• Staff aren’t performing according to requirements – How do you manage their performance and ensure that they improve?
• There have been reports of mistreatment, bullying, harassment etc. – Who gets involved to resolve this to protect victims?
• How do you assure investors, shareholders, auditors and funders that you have accounted for and are managing all human capital risks?
• Productivity levels are down, staff aren’t motivated anymore and are only doing the bare minimum, there are whisperings of dissatisfaction, staff are concerned about the security of their jobs, they feel out of the loop and don’t know what is going on in the organisation, they feel detached from the vision and mission… it’s starting to affect their performance… there are increased incidents of misconduct and negligence. People are calling in sick and staying absent at an alarming rate – How do you deal with this?
• What are the suitable corrective measures to take and what proactive measures can be implemented to mitigate these situations?
• You notice your employee turnover rate is higher than the rate at which you can employ and train staff – What is the strategy to retain staff? Why are they leaving at such a high rate?
• Has new legislation been signed into effect or have there been amendments to existing legislation and you don’t know where to start amending and applying this?

If any of these questions piqued your interest in terms of your organisation and/or issues that you may be experiencing, you can be assured that the need for an HR intervention is necessary. An HR Audit would be even more necessary to ensure that there is integration, alignment and consistency in all processes, policies and procedures in your organisation. The end goals are usually that of sustainability, efficiency, productivity and satisfaction. How does an organisation achieve these bottom lines without having a current and well-governed approach to people- and systems-management?

Regardless of the organisational challenges which may come your way, the benefits of conducting an HR audit are evident! Joubert and Associates understands the importance of HR Audits and have been conducting them for years. We have a talented team of professionals, with an HR Audit framework that is aligned with the HR Audit Pillars as determined by the HR Systems Standards Model from the South African Board of People Practices.

Contact us on info@hrsa.co.za or 021 863 0966 to get more information on the HR Audit and get an obligation-free budget. We are very eager to help you ensure that you are compliant and managing your people and systems effectively to achieve your goals and objectives!